It is known, in the technical sector of ski-touring, that there exists the need to provide safety bindings including a front element or toe-piece, designed to retain the toe of the ski-boot while allowing rotation of the boot about an axis, which is transverse to the longitudinal direction of extension of the ski from tip to tail end and is substantially horizontal, and a rear element, or heel-piece, designed to cooperate with the heel of the boot so as to allow three different modes of use, i.e.: release of the heel (normal walking); resting of the heel with greater/lesser inclination of the boot (uphill walking) and locking of the heel (downhill skiing).
In this connection, it is also known that the existing bindings of the type described above have, however, two main drawbacks. First, the toe-piece does not have independent means for releasing the boot in the transverse direction, as required in the event of a fall or a twisting movement during downhill skiing. Rather, in conventional systems, the safety is achieved by corresponding means for operating the rear heel-piece, which is consequently much more complex and heavy and results in an assembly with poor rigidity, particularly with respect to the rear fastening of the boot to the ski, with a consequent worsening in the downhill performance.
Second, closing of the toe-piece in traditional designs is performed by means of a front-end lever, which cooperates with springs arranged transversely in the toe-piece, resulting in a complicated mechanical assembly and a high overall weight of the toe-piece.
It is also known that in the case of athletes taking part in ski-touring racing competitions or in the case of ski-touring amateurs, there is an increasing desire to reduce the weight of the ski-touring bindings to reduce the load and improve the uphill performance. This has resulted in minimalist binding solutions, which are unable to ensure any safety release system, resulting in the skier being exposed to the risk of injury.
In addition, these known toe-pieces have complex mechanical sets of springs and connection elements that tend to jam and not work properly at low temperatures, owing to the formation of ice.